Story: Lesbian lives

Freda Stark (left) had many lesbian relationships throughout her life. She met actress Thelma Trott (centre) in 1933 and the pair became lovers. The relationship continued after Thelma married conductor Eric Mareo (right), and Freda was a regular guest in the couple's home. Thelma Mareo died in 1935 as a result of poisoning and her husband was convicted of her murder. The intimate relationship between the two women was exposed during the trial. Listen to Stark, in later life, describing her relationships with married women and an occasion when Eric Mareo found her in bed with Thelma.

Transcript

I had some wonderful love affairs with beautiful women who were married and used to love me to come and spend weekends with them. 

Interviewer: And what the husband do? 

I don't know, probably playing golf or something. But it was never talked about. It's amazing what we got away with, it is you know. 

Interviewer: Yeah. But if you'd have been discovered by the husbands there would've been difficulty. 

You remember Thelma? 

Interviewer: Yes 

I went with her and rotten old Mareo, 'cos he knew everything being in show business. And he'd come home from the theatre, he was playing it St James' Theatre, they had an orchestra there and I always remember I knew he was arriving because we had the big double bed I had a single bed down the hall and I used to sleep with Thelma to keep her company. But he was playing the orchestra and he came home this night and everything was dark and I knew he was there and I was fast asleep, pretending to be, and he came in and grabbed the bed covers and swept it off right like that and we would be so proper, so innocent. And we'd had a lovely evening and he was just a little bit too late.